International (MNN) — Since 1989, Prisoners for Christ (PFC) has been fulfilling its mission: bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to men, women, and juveniles in jails and prisons in the Pacific Northwest, across the United States, and around the world. In 2024 alone, the ministry saw 2,136,271 attend PFC programs across 35 countries, with 73,087 decisions for Christ made.
“Because we’re very evangelistic, we also have to be very discipleship-oriented,” says PFC President Greg Von Tobel, “and so that’s what the IBI is all about.”
The International Bible Institute (IBI) was created in 2018 to fill the void for quality discipleship curriculum for prisoners in developing countries. The two-and-a-half-year program consists of three curriculum levels:
- Basic: Covers principles, doctrines, and theology of the Christian faith, then moves into parables of Jesus, prayer, and the men of the Bible.
- Intermediate: Teaches inmates how to have a prison ministry in their own prison and how to witness for the cause of Christ with other inmates.
- Advanced: Trains inmates to plant churches and be spiritual overseers of inmates within the institutions where they live.
As of December 2024, IBI has six schools operating in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Pakistan —a nd authorities in some of those countries are taking notice of the impact.
“We planted an IBI in one particular southern state of Nigeria, and ran that for a year and a half, and then we planted another IBI in the south-central region, and we’ve had probably three different graduations at each one of these institutions,” says Von Tobel. “And of course, the good news always gets back to the Department of Corrections headquarters, and they are absolutely excited and thrilled about the changes that they’re seeing occur in the lives of inmates at those institutions.”
Now, PFC is hoping to open more IBI programs in regions that are currently suffering from ongoing violence. According to Von Tobel, it costs about $23,000 to run an IBI program for six years in an institution: “That is not a lot of money we’re expending to have people come to know the Lord and get them discipled. So that’s pretty exciting. We just need more resources in order to expand to other institutions.”
The impact of the IBI schools is powerful, bringing what Von Tobel calls a “calming spirit,” which can help the superintendents and overseers better manage their correctional institutions.
“Those officers take notice, and they want more of what we have to offer,” says Von Tobel, later adding, “Some of these Christian brothers that are graduating from our schools are now very confident and, with holy boldness underneath their wings, going and ministering the Word of God to the Muslim population. And we’re seeing Muslims come to know Jesus in a very powerful way, and we’re seeing terrorists who might be arrested coming to know Jesus. And so that’s the beauty of the IBI—that souls are being won, and we’re using the current population to win souls.”
Header photo courtesy of Colin Carey via Unsplash.
